Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser

The central vs local marcoms strategy debate has been raging from the earliest days of globalization, but if the number of briefs we are receiving is anything to go by the recession is certainly driving marketers towards more international and pan-regional approaches. Last month saw the Insight team work on several projects – in the automotive, media and telecoms sectors – designed to aid global marketers gain increasingly effective centralized control over local marketing teams as brands aim to maximise value and cut costs. Another interesting area we have explored in recent weeks has been how brands are developing PR-able campaigns in order to cut media spend.

If you would like any further information on the issues explored below or on Insight services in general don’t hesitate to contact us at mail@xtremeinsight.net 

Understand > Inspire > Direct


 

Global News Channels  - Speed vs Quality 
 
  Global vs local approaches was also a feature of a recent 24 Hour News Channel competitor advertising review we carried out for one of the international news giants. Since Bloomberg switched to a more globally consistent advertising approach earlier this year (where it joined most other brands including the BBC and CNBC), it has left CNN as one of the few big players consistently committed to a local advertising strategy. Whilst most competitors in this sector, particular those US-based brands, lay claim to some form of Number One positioning in much of their advertising, where competitor advertising does differentiate though is along the twin axes of aggressive vs passive and quality vs speed. With Fox News, and to a lesser extent Sky News, advertising favouring more aggressive, speed-based messages and the BBC basing its brand values on quality.
 

Car Communication Centralises
 
  This month saw the first executions in BMW’s new global ‘Joy’ initiative which reminds us that the car industry is one of the sectors currently re-focusing on the age old global vs local debate. The central vs local ad strategy conundrum is one that seems to periodically swing in favour of one side or the other according to a range of factors – one of which is simply ‘strategic fashion’. But during a recession it is usually global and regional marketers pushing for more centralisation who gain the upper hand as companies look to control costs through shared creative, bulk media buying and increase control over
expenditure. Last month the Insight team completed a project to help another major car manufacturer centralise its increasingly pan-European advertising approach by identifying which of its local markets was the most economically efficient. One of the KPI measures we used in this process was to divide local market ad spend by number of cars sold to determine which country had the lowest average ad spend per unit shifted. The variation was surprisingly large with the best performing market averaging just €100 of ad spend per car sold and the worst spending almost €1,000. We then examined the creative and media models being used by the best and worst performing local markets in order to create some regional best practice efficiency guidelines. Of course, there are many factors other than advertising which determine car sales figures, but this project is just one example of how much pressure central marketers are putting local teams under as financial directors squeeze ad budgets ever tighter.
 

PR-able Campaigns Cut Media Costs
 
  As part of a presentation on contemporary European mobile telecoms advertising, we recently explored how PR-able above-the-line campaigns can impact on media spend – something particularly advantageous in a recession when budgets are tighter than ever. An interesting current example of this can be seen when a comparison is made between the recent ‘Dance’ campaign T-Mobile ran in the UK and the ‘Petals’ campaign it ran in Germany. As has been well documented, the UK initiative achieved blockbuster PR coverage (and was partly designed to do just that), whilst the more classic Germany
campaign relied more heavily on traditional TV/Print/Online media spend. Xtreme Information’s ADX monitoring shows that whilst T-Mobile in Germany more than doubled its quarter-on-quarter media spend when it launched ‘Petals’, in the UK the equivalent media spend increase for ‘Dance’ was just 20 percent. Something many CFOs would take interest in during the current economic climate.
 

Payments Sector Switches From Credit To Debit
 
  This month we’ve been exploring marcoms trends in the global payments sector and, perhaps unsurprisingly, advertising in the credit, prepaid and debit card space has been radically affected by the recession. Not only was there a whopping 31% decline in total ATL investment between Q1 2007 and Q1 2009, but the industry’s major players have moved their ADX investment away from credit cards and into debit and pre-paid. At the same time many of the traditional numbers-based messages focused on APRs and Balance Transfers are being replaced by more educational messages and brand-backed tools and utilities to help targets economise, control their finances and maximise value. Some of the advertisers themselves are also seeking new (perhaps
more economical) media platforms -Capital One, for example, is switching budget from physical DM to digital.
 

Ashes Tests Mix Marcoms Tradition With Innovation
 
 

This summer everyday English and Australian office chatter is intermittingly interrupted by cheers and groans: as a certain broadcasting giant says it ‘can only be an Ashes Summer’. Whilst the IPL may be cricket’s new driving force in sponsorship money, the wave of Ashes advertising suggests there is still life left in brands backing test cricket. Whilst most official sponsors and media partners, such as Brit Insurance, Hugo Boss, Buxton Mineral Water, Wolf Blass Wines and Bells Whisky (which is aptly sponsoring England batsman Ian Bell), are taking a fairly traditional ‘fair play’ route to activating around their investments, official beer brand Marston’s has entered into the England v Australia rivalry head on with an approach we have labelled ‘adver-sledging’. Posters from the brand use combative lines Merv Hughes himself would have to appreciate: ‘We're English - we brew beer. You're Australian - you serve it', ‘England has history, Australia has previous' and ‘We have beer in our blood, Australians have lemon juice in their hair’. Furthermore, Marston’s  has joined the growing co-branding trend and linked with Marmite to create a limited-edition spread to celebrate the series - with a jar that looks like a cricket ball holding a red (not a black) spread. To promote this a 15m-high image of brand ambassador Phil Tufnell was projected Gail Porter-style on to the side of the London hotel where the Australian team stayed during the second test.

Meanwhile Sure For Men, which uses England talisman Andrew Flintoff to front its recent campaign, has released a cheeky viral aping his infamous pedalo incident. Even responsible drinking organisation Drinkaware has produced a cricket version of its current ‘Drink Less, Miss Less’ viral campaign featuring an umpire who makes a bad call during an over by England bowler James Anderson because he is having a pee after drinking too much. London 2012 Olympic sponsors should take note of such bold media placements and relevant and innovative use of new media platforms.
 

Insight Youth - UK Youth Special 
 
 

Our new UK Youth Special Report combines editorial analysis, expert opinion, content aggregation, and campaign case studies to explore contemporary British youth culture from an advertising and marketing perspective. It analyses key socio-cultural and consumer trends relating to the recession, the environment, the 2012 Olympics and the rise of social media. It showcases how these issues are being leveraged by marketers and includes a round-up of 2009’s most successful and innovative youth-targeted campaigns thus far. A must for all brands and agencies attempt to connect with this lucrative, yet elusive demographic.
 

To order or to see extracts email matthew.carlton@xtremeinsight.net

 
 

About Us
 

Xtreme Insight is a boutique marketing consultancy providing bespoke research across the advertising, branding, communication and marketing space. Our work includes campaign, brand, competitor and media analysis to provide insights into areas such as ad auditing, benchmarking, best practice, as well as briefing, creative and strategic development through reports, presentations, showcases and workshops.

In addition to the ‘payments sector marcoms review’, ‘analysis of global news channel brands’ and ‘car company centralization strategy project’ mentioned in this newsletter, other work this month included an exploration of oil & gas sector communication strategies, an alcohol NTM campaign showcase, a set of results-driven BTL campaign case studies, an analysis of automotive eco-led advertising, an Olympic sponsorship strategy report, as well as regular ad activity and analysis reports in the banking, drinks, gaming, Pay-TV, telecoms sectors.
 

If you would like any further information on Insight’s services don’t hesitate to contact us at mail@xtremeinsight.net or visit www.xtremeinsight.net
 
 

 
You have received this email because you are subscribed to the Xtreme Insight mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, or update your details. please click here
  
This email and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. All materials are for research and reference purposes only. The copyright remains the property of the copyright owner and the material may not be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the owner's consent. If you have received this email in error, notify us at postmaster@ads.xtremeinformation.com Thank you.  

Xtreme Information Ltd. Company Registered in England at 45 Foubert's Place, London, W1F 7QH.Registration number 3255646.